Audio: Lupe Fiasco “American Terrorist III”

Lupe Fiasco unleashed some twitter-terror on us over the weekend, dropping this new track “American Terrorist III” unexpectedly like bird-shit and/or a missile from a predator drone. I don’t always agree 100% with Mr. Fiasco’s political sentiments but this song–a threequel to Food & Liquor‘s track “American Terrorist”–is pretty amazing on a conceptual level. Structured as a phone call from the American terrorist of the title to his loved ones just before he goes underground, it functions as a kind “One Love” for the post-Iraq era, mixed with a little bit of the Talking Head’s “Life During Wartime.” The Kraftwerk robot-voice that brings the hook–actually an artifact of the track he’s rapping over–Kavinsky & Lovefoxxx‘s “Nightcall,” as seen in the movie Drive–is a nice cinematic touch (I recommend keeping this on loop while you read Dave Tompkins‘ book “How To Wreck A Nice Beach“).  Also, whether it’s Lupe’s intention or not, the coded substitution of ‘love’ for ‘hate’ (listen, you’ll see what I mean) renders poetically just how far the act of trying to stay sane in an oppressive system can push you through the looking glass, literally turning love into hate. Listen or download below–and some obsessive Lupe stan let me know whatever happened to “American Terrorist II” –is it a hidden groove on some super-secret mixtape I don’t know about?

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